Hawaii TV Stations Strike SSA

August 24, 2009

HONOLULU: Raycom Media, owner of KHNL-TV and KFVE-TV, and
MCG Capital Corp., owner of KGMB-TV, have hammered out a shared services
agreement among the three stations. The primary purpose of the SSA is to keep
the stations going in the face of economic tough times, without having to make
further cuts that would diminish service. The Pacific
Business Journal reports that 68 people were laid off in wake of the
SSA.

“We realize there may be other financial and business options available, and
while we are certainly open to discussing these with any interested party, the
economic reality is that this market cannot support five traditionally
separated television stations, all with duplicated costs,” Paul McTear, president
and CEO of Raycom, said. “Rather than experiencing the loss of one, or possibly
two stations in Hawaii, we intend to preserve three stations that provide
important and valuable local, national and international programming to viewers
in Hawaii.”

Raycom will provide operational services to all three stations. The SSA
effectively creates the state’s largest news operation, Raycom said. The three
newsrooms will produce more than 40 hours of local news each week, for TV and
for the stations’ respective Web sites. National network programming will
remain the same. KFVE is a MyNetworkTV affiliate. KHNL is NBC. KGMB is the CBS.

Raycom owns and operates 46 television stations in 36 markets and 18 states. MCG
Capital Corp. is an investment firm that also lists Sagamore Hill Broadcasting
as a non-affiliate investment. MCG’s portfolio list is available here.)
-- Deborah D. McAdams